Midworld Press...

[RonClinton]

Yes, the very bright white paper didn’t help matters ( Martin might want to be aware of this). Between the font and paper, my eyes are almost straining to trim each narrow letter from the dense and bold word blocks. I made it a half-dozen pages and then had to give it a break. I’ll try again tonight when it won’t come as such a surprise.

So I finished BLACKTOP WASTLELAND a few days ago; this serves as a brief review of the book. I won't speak to the novel itself -- its conflicts in character motivation and sensibility, some melodramatic coincidences that strain credulity -- but rather about the production of the book itself, since that's the primary intention of this thread. As mentioned earlier, I found the odd choice of the narrow, bold, stylized font throughout nearly unreadable, which was not helped by the bright white paper stock. The endpapers are white, presumably more of the white paper stock used in the rest of the book, rather than alternatively colored or designed...even simple black -- to play off the book's title -- would have been an improvement. The cover art that's garnered a number of critical comments in this thread would have been better swapped with the more pleasing rear art. On a positive note, the editing appeared to be clean...I didn't pick up any errors in that regard, and since I was having to focus rather diligently because of the font I have to assume I would have caught a rash of editing misses.

Midworld Press seems to be a very interesting new player on the scene and I plan to keep abreast of their new releases, even though I must admit my first experience with them was less than satisfying, if for no other reason than the chosen font that was a major misstep...it creates an obstacle between the author and the reader, rather than be an effective and inconspicuous delivery system to submerging the reader into the story.

I expect this will be headed to eBay for sale, so if anyone here is interested, feel free to ward me off at the pass with a reasonable offer and it can be yours.

[Martin]

Yes, the very bright white paper didn’t help matters ( Martin might want to be aware of this). Between the font and paper, my eyes are almost straining to trim each narrow letter from the dense and bold word blocks. I made it a half-dozen pages and then had to give it a break. I’ll try again tonight when it won’t come as such a surprise.

The only book I have from this publisher is 'Those Across The River'. The bright white paper and odd choice of font will probably prevent me from reading the book. To be honest the odds are against me ordering anything form this publisher. As I get older reading books printed like this one are getting tougher for me to read and I am finding it is just not worth the effort.

[RonClinton]

Yea. I noticed the font and paper color right away. Paper was bright and font was unusual. I did not try to read this one yet.

Yes, the very bright white paper didn’t help matters ( Martin might want to be aware of this). Between the font and paper, my eyes are almost straining to trim each narrow letter from the dense and bold word blocks. I made it a half-dozen pages and then had to give it a break. I’ll try again tonight when it won’t come as such a surprise.

[Ben Staad]

Yea. I noticed the font and paper color right away. Paper was bright and font was unusual. I did not try to read this one yet.

I cracked open my copy of BLACKTOP WASTELAND tonight to start reading, and immediately discovered an issue (for me) with the font used. Stylized, bold, and narrow, it’s almost unreadable and creates strain on my middle/aged eyes. I’m only a few pages in and my eyes are already tired. Kinda disappointing and certainly surprising…I may have to save this for the shelf and grab a used tpb to read.

[RonClinton]

I cracked open my copy of BLACKTOP WASTELAND tonight to start reading, and immediately discovered an issue (for me) with the font used. Stylized, bold, and narrow, it’s almost unreadable and creates strain on my middle/aged eyes. I’m only a few pages in and my eyes are already tired. Kinda disappointing and certainly surprising…I may have to save this for the shelf and grab a used tpb to read.

[Ben Staad]

I don't really collect ARC's but thought I would share this here if anyone is interested.

From today's newsletter:

The Library At Mount Char ARC

We had some ARCs / mock-ups of The Library At Mount Char printed up. If anyone is interested, we are giving two of them away. Send us an email with the subject line “TLAMC ARC” and next week we’ll choose two folks at random to each receive one.

[Sock Monkey]

I wish they’d used the art on the back of the jacket on the front, and put the front on the back:
https://twitter.com/ron_clinton/stat...qfN7tXtZl0kMXw

I agree. I like the back cover art you posted a lot better.

[RonClinton]

I checked out the artist's site and his art isn't bad at all. Hell, even the interior illustrations are improvements over that dust jacket. But that dust jacket...

I wish they’d used the art on the back of the jacket on the front, and put the front on the back:
https://twitter.com/ron_clinton/stat...qfN7tXtZl0kMXw

[Splync]

Received Blacktop Wasteland today and will view it a little closer later today. Not a fan of the DJ art but I knew that going into it.

I checked out the artist's site and his art isn't bad at all. Hell, even the interior illustrations are improvements over that dust jacket. But that dust jacket...

[Sock Monkey]

Received Blacktop Wasteland today and will view it a little closer later today. Not a fan of the DJ art but I knew that going into it.

The DJ art is the reason I didn't pick up the book. No offense to the artist, but it's just not my taste in art. With quantity of books coming out now and how just how expensive they are, I have become more and more selective in my purchases. I've heard good things about the book so I'll probably track down a paperback at some point.

I'd love to hear your thoughts as to the overall production values of the book as I've to buy anything from Midworld.

[Ben Staad]

Received Blacktop Wasteland today and will view it a little closer later today. Not a fan of the DJ art but I knew that going into it.

[RonClinton]

Newsletter Update from Midworld Press on Black Top Wasteland:

Blacktop Wasteland

We received word from the printer that the books are boxed up and ready to be loaded on a truck bound for MidWorld. Once we receive them, we’ll do some quality inspections; if all looks good, we’ll begin shipping them out mid or late next week.

Exciting to know that by the end of April I’ll have both BLACKTOP WASTELAND and Hill’s STRANGE WEATHER in hand.

[Ben Staad]

Newsletter Update from Midworld Press on Black Top Wasteland:

Blacktop Wasteland

We received word from the printer that the books are boxed up and ready to be loaded on a truck bound for MidWorld. Once we receive them, we’ll do some quality inspections; if all looks good, we’ll begin shipping them out mid or late next week.

[RonClinton]

FYI. I don't think Blacktop is shipping yet. I had ordered a book from another publisher and Blacktop Wasteland at the same time. The shipping notice showed both books but only received the other publishers book. Looking back at the last update for BW it looks like he is looking to receive these late this month and ship early April.

Ah, okay, good to know — thanks.

[Ben Staad]

Thanks for the feedback. Makes it tempting again.

Before reading the book, I too was a bit worried that it would be overfilled with the social-political stuff; however, it was a fairly straight forward read in my opinion. Obviously, with these characters and with the setting, there are some discussions on race and inferences to the challenges of being Black at that time; however, it is never heavy-handed and is often laugh out loud funny in places as well as having a very strong Lovecraft element mixed with black-folklore.